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Issue 3 2013 Change of captain for Panalpina


Panalpina CEO Monika Ribar is to step down at the end of May 2013 and will be succeeded by former Kuehne + Nagel management board member Peter Ulber. Ribar, who in addition to her role as CEO of Panalpina already serves on other companies’ boards of directors, plans now to turn her focus more on these non- executive managerial roles for the foreseeable future. Uber is owner and founder


of the logistics consultancy, the Charleston Enterprise Group. Panalpina has been struggling


for some time with poor profitability in some of its key sea and air forwarding activities, with earnings ratios behind those of its peers. The company has also been hit by fines and was forced to withdraw from the lucrative Nigerian project forwarding sector


New Panalpina CEO Peter Ulber


>> 1


Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, The Netherlands, Hungary, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Norway, Poland, the Republic of Ireland, Romania, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland. Hazchem managing director,


Ali Karim told FBJ: “We have always offered a European service but it was on a more ad hoc basis. Some of our members would carry pallets to European on an as-required basis.” The European service will


following a corruption case. The company also pleaded guilty to bribing officials in at least seven countries on behalf of its oil and gas industry clients, said Reuters. However, Ribar said that her departure was unrelated


to


Panalpina’s profitability and that planning for her successor had


been going on for several months. Together with finance chief,


Robert Erni, Panalpina has now poached two key figures fromKuehne & Nagel and the latter company will also be affected by the retirement of CEO, Reinhard Lange, and finance chief, Gerard van Kesteren. This could possibly


mean that KN is on the back foot, rather than Panalpina, said one analyst quoted by Reuters, although this suggestion was robustly rebutted by KN. However, both companies


must wrestle with the problem of a soſt market, particularly in airfreight.


Freight forwarders’ confidence in a market turnaround increased for the fifth consecutive month in March according to the latest survey undertaken by Transport Intelligence. The Stifel Logistics Confidence Index was up 0.4 points to 52.5 in March compared with 52.1 in February. In terms of the present


Forwarders see future strength UPS to challenge


months improved. Ti economist, Lucy Palmer,


logistics situation, the index did register a marginal decline of 0.3 index points to 45.4 from 45.7 in February. Since beginning in March 2012, the index has remained below the 50 threshold, indicating weaker volumes relative to those expected for the time of year; a reflection of the difficult economic conditions. But despite being slightly less optimistic about environment,


the current forwarders’


expectations for the next six


commented: “Regardless of a decline in the current index, forwarders’ confidence surrounding future market conditions strengthened further. This seems surprising; however it could be that the fall back in the index for March was a one-off resulting from manufacturer closures for the Chinese New Year. Results over the next couple of months will tell us whether or not this is the case.”


In a one-off question, Ti


asked survey participants if there was a visible trend towards increased consolidation (through mergers and acquisitions). Over three quarters of them (76%) acknowledged such a trend; only 14% did not. The remaining 10% were ‘unsure’.


The Stifel Logistics


Confidence Index is generated from an extensive survey of global logistics professionals, asked to provide their views on current levels of volumes in the industry and their expectations


UPS is to appeal against the


European Union’s decision in January to block its €5.16 billion takeover of rival TNT Express. However, the US giant said it only wanted “to clarify the legal reasoning” behind the move rather than reopen its bid for the Netherlands-based company. This, it said, would give it a


more accurate assessment of the EU competitive landscape and confirm that there was


be offered to customers as a virtual mirror-image of the UK service, apart from the need for customs clearance into non- EU countries like Switzerland and Norway. While operators need to be mindful of ferry


///NEWS


restrictions in particular, and one or two quirks such as Germany’s


Sunday ban on


dangerous goods movements by road, “these will be managed by our partners and, provided that the customer has completed the IMDG form robustly, they should not see any differences.” Karim added that he saw


a market niche for European hauliers needing to send one or two pallet loads of dangerous goods to the UK. “This could be a much easier solution for them compared with having to find a backload,” he explained. For the time being, the


network will provide links between the UK and the Continent. There are no plans to set up national operations within other countries at this stage.


for six months’ time. An index value of 50 indicates no change in the volumes currently being experienced for the time of year; above 50 indicates higher volumes,


while below indicates lower volumes. 50


Ceva cans stock market plan


Brussels over TNT bid


no precedent that could limit international growth opportunity. TNT added: “The appeal is


intended to clarify the EC’s legal assessment of the dynamics of the European express market. It does not imply a renewal or reconsideration of the previously proposed UPS offer.” UPS abandoned its bid for TNT


on 14 January aſter the European Commission regulators indicated they would stop the deal.


Poor financial results have put paid to global logistics player Ceva’s plans, announced last May, to list on the New York Stock Exchange, according to a report on the NASDAQ website. Ceva reported revenue growth of 4.8% for the year ending 31 December 2012 but its earnings were hit by the economic conditions. CEO Marvin Schlanger said there had been “a marked deterioration” in both its freight management and contract logistics businesses. “This simply isn’t good enough and we have taken action to


reverse this decline in profitability. We will continue to take action to establish satisfactory profitability.” Lower airfreight volumes,


particularly out of Asia, were offset by a solid performance in oceanfreight across all regions. But the company has reached


agreement with its major shareholders on a recapitalisation plan that it said would reduce substantially its overall debt and interest costs, as well as increase liquidity and strengthen its capital structure.


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FBJ April_2013_Multimodal2013_ 60_270mm(2).indd 1 www.logistics.dbschenker.co.uk 15/02/2013 14:32:12


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